>> welcoming to al jazeera america. i'm richelle carey. here are the stories we're following for you. an extension to the affordable care act could explain. target, what they are doing to fight back, following the massive credit card hacking scandal. and the man who designed the world's most popular weapon has died. >> can a is a key dead line for government health care if you want coverage to start in jan. a short time ago, the white house decided that anyone who is

logged in and doesn't get help today will be helped tomorrow. but there's one lurnlt group that the white house is desperately trying to get enrolled. ylz's melissa chan explains. >> it is right before christmas. they have last minute shopping to do but one thing they don't plane to do is buy health insurance. the obama administration wants badly for young people to enroll. they are not convinced. >> what i know about obamacare is what i've seen on saturday night life. >> i did not because i think health care should be free. >> the congressional budget office says it would like to see 7 million people signed up by spring. the administration says it would like a third of them to be young healthy americans. it's about the distribution. in order for the system to work enough young healthy americans must enroll to pay for the health care costs accrued by

older americans. if too few young and health americans enroll the number goes up, forcing premiums higher still making the system unsustainable. but some state based exchanges have performed well. california's exchange enrolled almost 17,000 americans between the ages of 18 to 34. about 22% of those enrolled. that's on target as a proportion of california's population. >> california has done a great job of running their state-based health insurance exchange. they don't rely on the health care.gov. they just rely on their own systems. >> some argue for patients saying what's happening in california and other states shows that if done right, obamacare works. >> i think it's worth being cautiously optimistic, given what's coming out of california,

given the numbers we're seeing the case that the plans are unraveling right now. >> reporter: meantime, many young americans won't sign up by monday. >> i've been living this long without health insurance. just keep on doing the same thing. >> reporter: even if it means paying a fertile penalty. melissa chan, al jazeera new york. taxpayers already pay for the president's health care. ice snow and powerful winds are putting a damper on holiday travel and last minute shoppers. from flooding rain in kentucky to freezing rain in michigan, severe weather, a plane there, skidded off the taxi way at detroit's metro airport, passengers got off the plane and were taken back to the terminal,

storm left thousands of people without power in the detroit area. let's talk about academy, turned trees into ice sculptures and left thousands without power. toronto mayor rob ford called it the worst in the city's history. >> i'll take it from here, meteorologist dave warren. looking at what has happened here so far. at least we have had the ice in the midwest and the very warm temperatures in the mid atlantic. two extremes of weather but all be together soon. the rain is moving out and bitter arctic weather will be in the area shortly. all this rain across the southeast it's very warm again today with temperatures in the 60s but once you get into that colder air up in new england you get rain falling into the colder air so still seeing icing new

hampshire to maine. that all will continue all this moves out of the coast by overnight tonight, by tomorrow, not expecting any rain. lake effect snow, hint of blit -- bitter cold moving in. i'll have that a little bit later. >> thank you dave. the violence is escalating between arrival groups in south sudan. the u.s. says it's repositioning troops the area. >> i will be sending a letter to the security council containing my recommendation for posting the protection capacity of unis with logistic asset. >> from the capitol city of j

yub. >> soldiers from the army have defected and joined rebels loyal at the time former vice president riek machar. the u.n. is having a really tough time dealing with thousands of people, running to their bases for shelter. earlier i talked to toby lanza the u.n. coordinator. >> very, very tense in the past few days, i've just come off my phone in the office there. the tension continues, there are skirmishes that are ongoing. not only the parties who are having this political struggle for power here, it's also now armed youth who are increasing reply taking nature into their own hands in different parts of jonglei state. we will do whatever we can in the united nations to make sure the people who have sought

refuge, over 15,000, that they will be safe. >> will everything be done to stop a civil war to break out? >> well, everything will be done, i'm focusing first and foremost making sure the people are safe and do the best we can getting to them on time, those engaged in that process to do everything they can to bring people back to the table to talk to each other and not settle any differences that they have by the barrel of a gun. >> do we have any idea about the death toll since all this started? >> well i think it's difficult to say with any precision but i'm sure at this stage we'll be over a thousand, in the low thousands. when we talk about the displaced people who have sought shelter in the u.n. bases we're now approaching 50,000 people but that doesn't include the people who are looking for shelter in churches, in the can a need rals here in the exap, in the bush

hiding, we've had countless phone calls from our own staff members who tell me actually leaving the centers and hiding between villages out in the savannah is where they feel is safest. i'm very concerned now that this is not going to be a situation affecting tens of thousands of people but hundreds of thousands of people. my main message is that in terms of peace keeping and humanitarian response, the united nations is here to stay. >> reporter: even in these u.n. camps things are tense. i went to one camp here in juba, we had to move because things were getting quite volatile. we had people from south sudanees, a different part of the country. these people got very angry, they said get them out of here or we'll kill them. it started as a political struggle but really escalating. if it's not really contained the

tribal aspects will escalate. if things aren't contained things will get. worse. >> pt seant french senment is high in central african republic. french peace keepers killed three rebels yesterday. trying to stop the spread of violence in bangui. andrew sims ons report. >> the central african republic republic said, he was chaddian, lynched by an angry crowd. a total of 40 receivables were injured three seriously and the central african peace keepers intervened, opening fire into the air. after that, in bossangoa, the french killed three people and it's a dangerous mix. it is unclear whether this

antifrench sentiment will increase. it is mainly confined to the former rebts from sil can you se peace keepers. chadians make up a lot of the seleka rebels. right now, the situation for the peace keepers, only five days into their mission, is getting more and more dangerous. a deadly day in iraq, at least 26 people have been killed across the country. at least five people died on a suicide mission in tekreet. thousands of people have died in violence this year. syrian war planes continue to rain down inaccurate barrel bombs in the northern territory of aleppo. children were among the 40 people killed yesterday. al jazeera's shamal

amountlshalal reports. >> reporter: for oarch a week now, aleppo has come under heavy bombardment. a city in ruins, people devastated. and this is what's left of what appears to be the syrian army's weapon of choice when it comes to bombing civilians. it is the base of a barrel, dropped by bashar al-assad's forces. and its ambulances rush to help those remaining. are within minutes, the locals frantically help rescue the injured. but saud's affairs was not finished, dropping a third barrel filled with explosives on the crowd. one of the buildings targeted in this indiscriminate series of bombings was an apartment block. those who survived the onslaught

might have thought they were safe until the building collapsed. unimaginable suffering, for those who believe their situation is being ignored by the world. >> are these muslims? aren't they your brothers? where are the muslims in the local governments? >> a short distance a small clinic is trmple transformed ina morgue. the only peace is in death. jamad al jasad, al jazeera. >> next, massive credit card scandal, how they are fighting back. and a judge rules on a legal challenge to gay marriage, when al jazeera america continues.

a former meat packing plant is the latest trim in farming. they call it "vertical farming." these fields grow on floors on at industrial park and farmer john adel and his staff agrees user. >> my shipping proceed did you say 1500, 2,000 miles to get are. >> the plant of the indoor -- as the indoor formers call it doesn't grow corn or soybeans but mustard, high end micro greens on the plates of white-napkin restaurants.

these fish supply the vert liser that number issues the (vo) al jazeera america we understand that every news story begins and ends with people. >> the efforts are focused on rescuing stranded residents. (vo) we pursue that story beyond the headline, past the spokesperson, to the streets. >> thousands of riot police deployed across the capitol. (vo) we put all of our global resources behind every story. >> it is a scene of utter devastation. (vo) and follow it no matter where it leads, all the way to you. al jazeera america. take a new look at news. the stream is uniquely interactive television. we depend on you, >> you are one of the voices of this show. >> so join the conversation and make it your own. >> the stream. weeknights 7:30 et / 4:30 pt on al jazeera america and join the conversation online @ajamstream. >> welcome back to al jazeera

america. i'm richelle carey. the man who designed the most popular weapon died, mikhail kalashnikov died in a central hospital in luz has died. more on kalashnikov life and legacy. >> it's 1947. the very beginning of the cold war. and rolling off the production line at the soviet armments factory a new weapon, a weapon that will change the face of war. the ak .47 taking its name from that of its inventer, 24-year-old mikhail kalashnikov. a former tank officer he was wounded in the war. he heard talk about the lack of a reliable infantry weapon. reliable, the a consider .47 can fire 600 rounds a minute.

it is estimated there are over 100 million of the weapons worldwide, produced in 42 countries with 82 armies equipping their armies with the ak. still in use. it is a remarkably simple weapon to use, it only has eight moving parts. you could easily teach a child how to strip and shoot an ak .47 in under an hour. for the child armies of africa, in sierra leone, liberia and uganda, turning children into killers. four years ago, the russian leadership celebrated mikhail

kalashnikov' 90th birthday. awarding him a hero of the russian nation. i'm sad that it's used by terrorists. i would have preferred to have invented a machine people and farmers could use like a lawn mower. peter sharpe al jazeera moscow. >> let's take a look at our top business headlines right now. holiday cheer on wall street. investors picking up where they left off last week with more buying. right now dow is up almost 72 points. the blue chips are on track for their fourth, fourth straight record. apple is getting access to more than 700 million potential customers. it reached a deal with china mobile the world's largest cell phone carrier, the deal could add billions of revenue, to

apple. lawsuits in response to target stores being hacked affecting millions of credit and debt card holders. chase bank is now limiting how much its credit card customers can spend in the final days before christmas. al jazeera kilmeny duchart reports. >> she could only withdraw 100 from an atm. far short of what she needed for her extended family's christmas list. >> i have 12 girls to shop for, 13 brothers to shop for. and i have to get their sweat shirts and i don't know what i'm going to do now because i'm pretty sure that's over $300. >> reporter: and that is more than chase will allow her to charge on her debit card. she is one of customers who used their debit cards from november 27th to december 17th. one-third of chase branches were

open sunday to help customers print new cards. issue new debit cards on the spot but for customers who can't make it into the bank getting a new card could take up to two weeks. i learned my card needed to be changed during christmas shopping a shock and an inconvenience. chase released this statement to all of its customers. we realize that this could not have happened at a more inconvenient time, we are taking these measures, i was able to get a new card at my bank in less than five minutes. but for shoppers who couldn't switch their cards: >> i feel like i can't use my card anymore, have to band it and only use cash and that's not very convenient for this time of the year. >> inconvenient not just for shoppers but stores. including target, which is still trying to figure out how some 40 million of its credit and debit

cards were hacked. kilmeny duchart al jazeera new york. retailer saw a decline in customer traffic over the key holiday weekend. several people had to be rescued in philadelphia today after a major water main break. take a look at this. streets turned into rivers this morning. the city closed more than a dozen schools early and two daycare centers were evacuated because of this break. thousands of homes and bits are without water. crews from the city's water department there are working to fix had problem. a federal judge has denied utah's request to block a ruling allowing same sex marriage in the state. hundreds of couples attained marriage licenses on friday when the judge declared the state's same sex marriage ban to be unconstitutional. an appeal is expected. up next the los angeles post office is getting into the

holiday spirit. we'll bring you that story when al jazeera america returns. debate. and a host willing to ask the tough questions and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5pm et / 2pm pt only on al jazeera america

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm here are the headlines. a short time ago the white house decided that anyone who logged in and doesn't get help today on the healthcare.gov website who doesn't get help today, will get help tomorrow. repositioning u.s. forces in africa, for south sudan. at least five people were killed on a suicide attack on an iraqi city of tikrit. leaving at least 26 people dead.

every year hundreds of thousands of american children write letters to santa telling him what they want for christmas. there's a whole team of u.s. postal service that sorts through, trying to make some of these wishes come true. brian rooney, tell us how they make these wishes come true? brian, i bet you some of these letters are pretty interesting. >> they are and they're fun to read. i have to say i didn't know the postal service did this. you could come down here in the last couple of weeks, rummage through letters written to santa claus, go out and buy the gift that the child wants and bring it back here to the post office and they'll mail it to the child. the addresses and names are redacted, you don't know who you're sending it to but the

postal service takes care of it all. a lot of people have done this. we talked to a woman named patricia cassado. is. >> a pack of pokemon cards. that the post office does these efforts to make it easy for us to do that, it's amazing. dear santa, i want a ben shirt and ben pen. tsa are you there in the north pole? sincerely, joey. i don't know who ben penn is, i went online to find it and ordered it and will get it tomorrow. go for it. joey you have one thing. >> the kids believe in the magic of christmas and the magic of santa and i want them not to lose that, that dream.

>> now, there's another one, i confess that i have no idea what a ben penn watch is but apparently she went out and bought one and is sending it to that child. people are having a lot of fun with this. people are coming in today, the deadline has passed to pick letters but people are coming in to mail their packages today. but apparently in new york city you can still pick a letter and try to send a gift until 4:00 p.m. christmas eve. >> i'm glad you said that because i have a feeling brian there are people that are watching now that want to get in on this. the woman you just showed seemed to be getting as much out of this than i think the children do. it seems that people help because they get a lot of joy out of this. is that the impression that you get? >> yeah, people get a lot of enjoyment out of giving at christmastime. they do. they get a lot of fun out of just giving something to a stranger at christmas.

and making the day for a child that they'll never meet they'll never see but they know they did that and they like it. >> fantastic. i didn't know what that was, either. i'm glad she told us. brian rooney, live at the post office. thank you very much, brian. >> i'm meteorologist dave warren. a warm day yesterday and today is about to end. we are looking at the bitter cold arctic air returning. before it does so we have to get rid of these 50s and 60s and rain out there across washington, d.c, atlanta, new york and even freezing rain up across new england. that birth cold air it was driet but lake effect snows are developing you see that moving in. the last of the rain is southeastern pennsylvania all the railway down 95 through georgia. where it's cold enough on the

surface, we're still seeing icing coming down here and freezing rain across portland and boston, that's where the temperature is down right about or below the freezing mark. it quickly warms up to the 50s and 60s, washington, d.c. and baltimore are still seeing warm weather. there's not much in the adviso advisoadvisorie srveg are stilln effect. that develop lake effect snow is starting to kick in and that will happen as the colder air comes across the warmer lakes. that will pick up tomorrow. 39, with a few flurries, christmas morning, 32 for the low 30 for the high, staying above the freezing mark. 40° on thursday. some flooding still across the southeastern states as that rain continues.

just one or two flood watches still in effect. here is that heavy rain, clearing out in the next few hours then we are dry. we're talking about the cold air. these are the actual temperatures bismarck fargo, minneapolis, 1 below disclosure, but by tomorrow morning what it peoples like on your skin with that wind combined, this bitter cold air moves through chicago and the northeast. bundle up over the next 24 hours the cold is coming back richelle. >> thank you dave. investors are picking up where they left off last week, they're buying, up 68 points, blue chips are on record for their fourth straight record. christmas is two days away, people around the world are beginning to celebrate. the recent violence hasn't kept people from putting up decorations in lebanon and santa himself is doing last minute

preparation for his trip around the world of course. thank you for watching. techknow is next, keep it here. >> undercover and now she's taking us to new york city where some of the toughest put it to the test. >> the engineer who designed the bionic eye. he takes us to colorado to meet the man who created the 3d bionic hand.